They'd gone into the last change  with a 35-point lead after a sparkling third quarter that helped overcome some  woeful inaccuracy  in the first half

By Paul Amy- Leader News 

Now, 40 minutes later, they  were facing  up to a four-point loss. Full back Alex Silvagni  wore a face as long as  the Westgate bridge.

Twice in that last quarter he'd kicked straight to Willy players, gifting goals to Matt Little and Guy O'Keeffe.  ``It just opened the door  for us,''  Seagulls coach Bradley Gotch  acknowledged. ``Yep, no doubt we pinched it. But at the end of the day it's a win.

''Asked  what he had  said to Silvagni after the match, Casey coach Peter German  replied: ``I just asked him  how old he was and he said 21. So I said he's got 10 years of footy to go and hopefully this will sit in his head and he'll learn from it.''How the match changed.

German's instruction at  three-quarter-time was simple:  don't sit on your lead, continue to take the game on.Willy got a goal through David Stretton and two more  from the Silvagni blunders. In between  the ball had  bounced on the Casey  goal line  after a long shot   from Michael Stockdale.

 It looked to be dribbling through but the wicked break back into play denied the visitors a settling goal. Later, a Danny Hughes snap also took a devious turn.Willy seemed to get all the late breaks as Casey's lead dissolved  to nine points by the 12-minute mark.Michael Newton, whose kicking was poor  early in the match, slotted his third goal  to give Casey a few composing breaths, but the  Seagulls  got on another run and grabbed the lead through Sam Reid.

The siren brought delight for Willy and despair for the Scorpions. Again they'd failed to finished what they'd started. And again they'd failed  to take  even half their  chances, spraying 0.7 in the first quarter. In the second term Addam Maric kicked in to the man on the mark as he took a simple set shot for goal. And captain Kyle Matthews was wide with a straightforward opportunity just before half time. They were costly misses.

But there were a few others across the afternoon.Matthews  had provided the play of the day when, in the second quarter, he laid a tackle, then  dived in to win the possession. Casey goaled from the resultant ball-up.The Scorpions were irresistible  in the third term, banging through seven goals to one as they played  on quickly and    used  the corridor.

 Clearance ace Daniel Bell and Shane Valenti were superb in setting up attacks. It looked like they'd blown the Seagulls away. But the finish had a sting in the tail for the Scorpions.``I just said to the players, `Who's  23 or under?' and we  only had two players 24 or over,'' German  said.``It's a game where you can learn so much. I just sensed there wasn't a willingness to work and open the game up like we did in the third quarter. That's how  we got the lead we did.''

Casey hosts winless Bendigo on Sunday. 

  $1000 Leader player of the year votes:  3 Daniel Bell, 2 Peter Faulks, 1 Michael Stockdale. 

 Progressive:  7 Wall, Valenti, 6 Bell, 5 Silvagni, 3 Jurrah, Miller, Jamar,  Newton, Matthews, 4 Faulks, 2  Cheney, Dunn, Mohr, Liddle, Spencer, 1 Stockdale, Robertson, Maric, Panozza, McNamara, MacReadie.

Casey Scorpions   0.7  4.10  11.13  12.14 (86)  lt Williamstown   2.4  5.6  6.8  13.12 (90)

Goals: Casey Scorpions: Newton 3 Hughes 2 Zomer  Stockdale  Strauss  Maric  Dunn  Matthews  Valenti.

Williamstown: Little 4 Stack 3 Davies  O'Keefe  Everitt  Reid  Stretton  Cordy

Best: Casey Scorpions: Bell Faulks Valenti Panozza Wheatley Bartram.

Williamstown: Callan Davies Addison Reid Gotch Everitt

Reserves:  Casey Scorpions   4.2  9.4  11.6  14.9 (93) lt Williamstown   7.3  10.9  13.17  19.25 (139).

 Casey goals:  Waite 3 Scanlon 2 Dean 2 Oldmeadow  Clay  Mildren  Williams  Matheson  Chivers  Virtue. Best:  Chivers Collins Williams Blaser Lees Snow